The difference is clearly in the amount of hits he is giving up. His strikeouts have increased since last year, and his walks have basically held steady. He just isn’t getting the outs like he used to.

On top of the increase in hits, he is giving up quite a few homers, something that has always been a problem for him.

Earlier this year he picked up a win with six innings of shutout ball against the Pirates. Despite giving up just three hits it took him 98 pitches. Being a high strikeout guy there is always a very real chance he throws a ton of pitches and takes himself out of a game early, even when he is dominating, like that game.

Norris has made seven starts since that performance and he immediately had two really nice seven inning starts. Despite that though he has struggled big time since that Pirates series. Including those two seven inning outings he is just 2-4 over seven games with an abhorrent 6.06 ERA. He has also given up eight homers in that span. That’s a rate of one homer ever 4.4 IP.

One interesting fact in regards to his platoon splits. His OPS against lefties is better than against righties, but his SO/BB against lefties is horrible. Especially in relation to his numbers against righties. If the Pirates lefties can stay patient against Norris they can probably draw quite a few walks, on top of getting his pitch count up.